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Muscovy Ducks: a great homesteading breed

They’re quiet and friendly, they hunt flies (seriously), are hardy in all weathers, and produce fabulous eggs and the best duck meat ever. Convinced yet?

Muscovy ducks are the only domesticated duck which is not descended from the mallard. Instead, they’re South American in origin, and, depending on who you talk to, ‘not quite a real duck’.

I think this is mainly because they don’t quack (they chirp and hiss instead), they hunt flies and mosquitoes, and basically get around like a goose, with that same sense of ‘here I come, step aside y’all’.

I’ve heard it said often that Muscovies are tree birds, rather than water birds – what this means in a domestic context is that they don’t roost on the ground, but instead prefer to be up a bit – which is great from a predator point of view.

That said, they do like a bit of water – but this can be a basin, it doesn’t need to be a fully fledged duck pond (though they love those too).

Muscovies eat a bit of everything – grass, slugs, bugs, flies, grain…. whatever’s going. I wouldn’t put them in your vegetable garden as your lettuce might suffer a dreadful fate, but they are fine around less delicate and perennial crops.

The muscovies at Milkwood Farm have happily integrated into our poultry system with the chickens – where the hens go, they go too.

Last summer that was out on pasture in an egg mobile, surrounded by electric netting. This year it’s in the gravity chicken run.

They seem fine with either arrangement. They waddle, they forage, they have a splash, do a poop, then go hunt flies for a bit.

Prodigious poopers

I tried to get a video of this bit bit but didn’t manage it, so take my word for it (and maybe be thankful i didn’t).

Muscovy ducks poop with such flamboyant squirts that they usually startle everyone around them in the process, including themselves. It’s quite funny actually.

But the good bit here is the fertiliser, delivered generously in liquid form. You can cell graze muscovies through your backyard or paddock or food forest and reap the benefits.

Why hunting flies is a big bonus

Firstly, of course, there’s the fly control factor. Nobody sits around saying ‘gee i wish we had more flies’ that i know of. And muscovies hunt them. Like, actually hunt them. With glee and relish.

But here’s the added bonus of fly hunting, other than fly (and apparently also mosquito) control – it’s wild protein inputs!

In a permaculture system, you’re always looking for ways that you can stack or combine things to reduce inputs – in the spirit of ‘every output is an input’.

Animals that harvest wild protein themselves to supplement feed are a gold-star winner in such a system.

And anything that eats flies, as well as produces fertilizer, eggs and meat prolifically, is welcome at my place.

They are tough as… a tough thing

Our muscovies are a motley crew of possible siblings and cousins, inherited from some folks down the road when they moved away.

Beating sunlight or freezing temperatures worry them not. They are consistently healthy, cheerful and up for it. Whether that’s fly hunting or just waddling around.

They make more Muscovies

From Spring to Autumn, they lay eggs. Somewhat randomly it seems. Sometimes in the henhouse laying boxes, and sometimes… just wherever they sit down that morning.

And every so often, one of the girls goes broody, and becomes, in the lingo, a sitting duck.

That’s the other thing about muscovy ducks – they are great ‘sitters’, and mothers too.

To my somewhat random observations, this sitting seems to start as a collaborative project – one duck starts sitting, then the next day you’ll find another duck sitting on that same clutch of eggs, and so on.

Eventually, one of the ducks stays there consistently and, 35 days-ish from when someone or other started sitting, its birthday time!

Our last clutch resulted in 7 live births, two ‘didnt-quite-make-it’s and 4 eggs that didn’t hatch at all, which were gingerly added to the humanure compost before they cracked and things got stinky.

The ducklings are just like their parents – sturdy, healthy, low-care poultry. Oh and they hunt flies too – from about 4 weeks of age!

Duck meat like no other

A note: Muscovies breed very easily, and before you know it you might have quite a few. If you do not want to eat them, then don’t let the girls go broody, and eat all the eggs instead. Simple.

If you are interested in ethical low-impact homegrown meat, then muscovies are for you. The hens grow out to about 4.5 kg and the drakes to about 6kg.

The ducklings grow out to a good size (but not full size) by 10-12 weeks, and it’s at this time, before they get their full set of adult feathers, that home harvest makes the most sense from both a practical (plucking) and a output-for-input point of view.

I’ll do another post on duck day as we call it – but essentially, it’s similar to chicken day – it’s messy but fruitful and has all the connotations and emotions and rewards of home-scale animal husbandry.

The result is a sizable bird with meat more reminiscent of red meat than duck meat.

Muscovies have very little fat, compared to other breeds – though for each bird you will still get a small jar of precious home-grown duck fat for your cooking.

In short, Muscovies are a great breed for anyone with a little space – they would not suit small backyards, but on 1/4 acre upwards, they’re an excellent option to consider.

They are not as reliable egg layers as khaki campbells or indian runners though so if you’re duck-egg-centric, have a look at those breeds.

But if you’re looking for a great addition to your system that combines insect control, companionship, some eggs, lots of great meat and fertiliser…. muscovies might just be for you.

Comments

72 responses to “Muscovy Ducks: a great homesteading breed”

So i have two questions for you. The first is that “hearsay” about never mixing ducks and chickens because of disease. is this a wives tale or does it have more to do with breed? and too, hubby wants me to ask how do you stop them from flying away. we’ve recently FINALLY moved to our farm and have a huge springfed dam that already has wild ducks on it …. what is to stop ours (we do intend to get some) from flying off? do you clip wings regularly or ?????

Smushing multiple groups of animals together at high densities is never a good idea, but in a backyard / small farm setting, I don’t see any problem with it, if your animals are all healthy and have access to clean water, air, open space, greenstuff etc…

In the chicken run, all the ducks have stayed put without wing clipping – when they were out on pasture we used to clip their wings intermittently…

Great Post Kirsten! Muscovies rule! I used to have 3 lovely girls that kept my orchard clear of pests and beautifully fertilised . I found that my ladies mostly liked to poo in the water { like Hippos! } which was great because I would just move their water tub from tree to tree every couple of days and empty the contents on each tree, it was the only fertiliser i used and the trees were so healthy and laden with fruit.

They’re such a great breed, I find them to be really friendly characters, easy to manage and much less timid than other breeds, especially if you’ve had them since they were ducklings. Some drakes can be a bit on the aggressive side though, which is good for dettering predators.. but i’d recommend people who had drakes to maybe keep them separated from ducklings until they’re a bit bigger.

Thanks for the great article, ducks are a favourite around here, shh, don’t tell the chickens! I just love how they grow up, they are cuter for much longer than chickens! Our kids love watching and getting splashed by ours when they have their bath when we refresh their water pools. Good thing about ducks is that they are much easier, I find, to catch than chooks, if you need to. I’m still not quite ready to eat any of mine, I’m still making up for making my hubby do the last ‘chicken day’!

I keep Welsh Harlequin ducks and drakes and find them great backyard pets (but I have a big backyard) which also give great eggs and meat, as well as fertiliser, just like Amy. While these are a ‘quiet’ breed they do make a bit of noise (but no worse than a noisy dog, and my neighbours are fine with it) so it’s interesting to hear these don’t make much noise. I have them in a fully enclosed area months of the time to protect them from foxes, but let them out into the backyard for foraging. They are great fun and very easy to look after.

Thanks for this insight, we’ve been pondering what could be an addition to our future livestock rotation, and Muscovy’s look like contenders. The tough bit, the eating-flies bit and the pooping bit are all especially appealing!

Lovely to see ducks getting such a good review!! We had two muscovies who turned out to be very aggressive drakes that would chase our dogs around the yard and then start to chase the kids! LOL. I got to see one of them catch a mouse and gobble it up – love anything that keeps the rodent population in balance. Moved these boys on and switched to Indian Runners as we love the eggs & sell excess supply. Fantastic for mobile fertilising, less destructive than chooks, smarter and more entertaining; give me a duck any day!

We had black and white muscovies, but changed to all white as they are sooooo much easier to pluck. I found the dark feathers a real pan and sometimes even skinned the ducks when they were too bad. Ours do fly out of the pen sometimes – but once they get older, I think they get too heavy. Their meat is delicious – try slow cooking in master stock (in pieces) – recipe here http://healthyfarminghealthyfood.blogspot.com.au/p/recipes.html Last time I cooked one I brined it first – it too was delicious! We run our ducks and chickens together and the only trouble we have is with our aussie game chickens going clucky and helping the duck sit! Not a good ending! Great post!

I live on a quarter acre and had three Peking ducks, I had a pen built for them under the kids treehouse, they were lovely creatures. In the end I had to find them a new home, I just found I could not keep the straw up to them, even though I let them free range in the backyard I had a large tub in their pen to play in. I’d love to get ducks again but worry about having the same problem. My chickens currently time share the backyard with the dog, around 2 in the afternoon I put the dog away and let the chooks out until sundown. Everyone seems happy with this arrangement. Do you think the ducks would be happy with a tub outside their pen? I ask because I’d like to raise more of my own meat. I’d like to add rabbits and another kind of poultry this year, thanks!

We decided to terminate our relationship with muscovies when we realized that BBQ duck confit had been the go to afternoon snack after school for our 7 & 9 yr old boys for over 6 months. They just seemed to have a love afair with salt and fat. Ha! Now they are on our case saying that we need to eat less bacon – what can you do?

Thanks for this article I have always wanted muscovies and feel inspired to now get them. Questions, can u mix them with Indian Runners? Also when mixing with chooks can they sleep together or so they need to be separated and esp when there is babies. Lastly would they attempt (or both ducks if u know) to get into the pool? Thanks again

Muscovies are great characters to have about and yes they can fly when they’re young. I’ve never forgotten the feeling of being watched while having a stroll in the yard only to look up and see one of these newly fledged youngsters atop the neighbour’s chimney. How on earth she managed to land on the chimney in what would have been an inaugural flight I’m not quite sure but it was impressive nonetheless.

We have muscovies and although my hubbie hasn’t quite been able to kill one yet, there is a pressing need and I look forward to the taste. We have 3 drakes and 2 ducks,Yin and Yang from our ducks 2nd sitting. We’ve just emptied out our girls nest of the eggs they’d been hoarding in there for far too long and they’ve been composted too. The drakes have never shown any flying since they were able but Miss Mandy our older duck took off a few times. We clipped her wings only as our neighbour keeps racing greyhounds and we didn’t want her to fun afoul (pun intended) of the dogs. And I know EXACTLY what you mean abuout their toileting habits. Be wary of which end faces you shoud you ever need to pick them up. My husband has been caught twice that way and it’s stinky stuff.

I have 3hens and a drake, they keep our backyard grass lush and short. But I have a problem keeping my ducklings alive. after about two weeks, they start dying. What can I do to prevent that, I feed them and they stay with their mother.

We have a very low survival rate here too. Say 13 in a clutch, 2-4 will survive. A lot of the time it seems that the little guys aren’t getting enough wild food to eat or are getting too cold. The mums lead them everywhere, seemlingly unaware of the fragility of the little things. Occasionally we spot the trouble before it’s fatal and bring a few back from the brink with porrige and other food first aid.

Tammy our ducks love getting in the pool, which is disgusting as they do jet propelling with poo. They are right escape artists and are convinced the pool is just for them. Our drake did not do well with the chickens as he harassed them horribly. I do not recommend it. The drakes are apparently not great around ducklings and need 3 or more ducks/ females as partners. we love ours, they are beautiful and practical and quiet.

I have 7 ducks, mixed breeds. 2 Khaki Campbell cross Indian runners 2 Abacot Rangers .. which apparently were made from khaki Campbell Cross indian runners so my four girls are all quite similar. One of the Abacots has been laying full time for a year now! She is a wonder duck and I think she sort of didn’t moult just replaces feathers all year?

Then I have a trio of Call ducks with one duck and two drakes. They are completely adorable, very small (.5kgs maybe) and cuddly. The duck of the trio lays unbelievably well considering the breed isn’t known to lay very well at all (anywhere between 8-80eggs per year.) My girl topped 100 eggs last season!! I think she wants to keep up with the big girls.

To me ducks are far more endearing than chickens (I grew up with chickens so I can appreciate them too.) Far too many people miss out on the beauty of keeping ducks. .Maybe they think it’s more work? Even if it was, it’s certainly worth it.

My advice. .Get some ducks! 🙂 I haven’t had muscovies but khaki campbells are much smaller and are fantastic layers. I don’t eat meat so that’s all I’d have them for.

We have a drake and a few ducks. They are good layers. They are getting along with the chickens too. Keep the back yard clean out of all kinds of insect and mosquitoes. Not noisy. No quack quack. The pictures shown here are resembles here. But in local language in the west part of Sri lanka, farmers call it ‘kochchi Duck’ and can some ….expert help me to verify its breed if i sen the pictures? I can e-mail or any other option please…?

Good afternoon. I have just bought two Muscovy ducks. Drake is 9 weeks old and duck is about 13 weeks old. I was just wondering how old a duck should be before I trim its wing? Thank you in advance for your reply.

Our Muscovy duck is nesting but we don’t have a drake and she doesn’t have any eggs under her. She has been sitting there for a couple of months only coming out in the late afternoon for a swim and an eat. What can we do to stop her from sitting ? Thanks

Just read your article plus comments. I have muscovies and love them to bits, BUT – I cant tell male from female at a young age! I went away recently for 3 weeks and my housesitter didn’t discover where the eggs were being laid, so when I came home I had one of my girls sitting on 22 eggs! I couldn’t murder them (I am always particular to collect eggs daily) so let her sit, thinking the old fella is pretty old now and they probably wouldn’t hatch. 19 out of 22 eggs hatched and all the girls help watch over them, but obviously I cant keep them all. I would like to keep the girls and give the boys to a chap I know who will kill and dress them for his family, but how to tell at 6 weeks! I am looking at legs and size, but is there a reliable way for someone who knows nothing about sexing fowl?

I just sat a runner beautiful male black with shines of purple,green & blue…the most aggressive nasty honking 24 hours a day jerk ever though! Pheasants, well just plain evil and while I like chickens okay ugh they are far more work than muscovies, mine killed the snake & the rat even chased off the neighborhood tom cat

Just found your site! Great comments. I live in France, have a male and a female white muscovy (barbary here) and love having them about the garden. They are friendly, quiet (apart from a hissing noise), love sitting with us and following us around. In the summer when it is too hot they have been known to wander in the house to see where we are and what we are doing! Our female sat on eggs too early this year which resulted in the unhatched ducklings dyiing in the shell but, as she continued to sit, she cooked the yolk. I am now waiting until she starts laying again and will let her sit with hope for better luck next time.

Hi everyone, I have a drake about 6 months old living in the city. We cannot keep him anymore and was wondering if there are any good forums or sites that help find Muscovies a good home? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, Maayan from Israel here, I just stumbled upon your blog and I’m loving it! I got two muscovies for free from a guy that got them as a “toy for the kids” and I’m wondering.. I got them about 12 weeks old, they are about 6 months old now, when nad how can you tell male/female apart? I understand they fly, what is their ideal cage size?

Hello i breed muscovies as a hobby in the UK more or less and as regards the fly hunting- i’ve seen them do this effectively as soon as they can walk straight! I love them to bits they have great personalities, they are fantastic egg layers – though not like a khaki, and they are the best duck meat you will ever taste. i’m just bracing myself for the Christmas cull. one of the drakes was the wrong side of the fence tonight and trying to get him over the fence he pretty much broke my nose with his wings. ouch. they are so strong! I have seen them catch and eat mice, frogs and the most unappetising looking invertebrates. Best ducks ever!!

My neighbor has a Muscovie female and a peking male. They mated and she laid eggs. about 2 days ago she found three eggs that had hatched. she also found three dead babies. she is wondering if the other eggs are still viable or should she remove them from the nest.

I’m curious if you ever have problems with male muscovies or chickens attacking new ducklings are do you separate the mother and chicks for a time? What about male muscovies hassling the brooding hen while on the nest? Also, should I be concerned about my breeding male and female birds being from the same clutch and so likely siblings? Thanks!

do I need a male for the girls to lay? I have 1 male and 8 females and only 2 girls ive seen him romping with lay? I have 3 older mums that belong to all the others, and gave away my flock of males as I was over run with 16 males, now no eggs for over 6mths from my elders

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